


it's not like i'm doing this for you or anything, geek boy

by chivalrousamour



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: F/M, Idiots in Love, i meant relationship shipping but now im imagining a people post office, kidnapping as a method of shipping, maybe next time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-01-12 07:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18442046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chivalrousamour/pseuds/chivalrousamour
Summary: Childhood friends swearing to make it big in the fashion industry together, her wearing only the creations he brings to life for her they are not. Instead, they're something more like childhood enemies, with her forever taunting, forever inciting the boy while remaining just out of his reach.That suits her much better, you know. She doesn't like him at all, what with his quiet voice and lack of confidence. No, she would rather have a boy whose eyes light up with determination and passion, and she couldn't even see his eyes behind those glasses and creepy hairdo!Not that she dreams of seeing those eyes or anything, or of a world where she didn't cause this gaping rift between them with her huge mouth. It's a fashion designer's job to dream of fantastical, wonderful dreams and bring them to life.It's a model's job to take these fragments of fantasy and make them work.





	it's not like i'm doing this for you or anything, geek boy

**Author's Note:**

> from the moment i saw alice in n.y. ive been writing this fic and if you thought i couldnt find a way to make it lenmiku you were WRONG AND THE BAD END NIGHT NOVELS _RUINED_ ME

Hatsune Miku had a strict set of rules in her life.

Never cry, never show weakness, and never stop smiling.

It was a set of rules she made up when she was young, having learned that no one gave half a whit what you said 'less the way you said it was pretty and cute and wrapped in ribbons. It wasn't even a way to survive her years as a model, she came up with them before she even reached half of a model height. 

See, at the tender age of five and a half years old, she was the star of the class, friend to everyone, adored by the teachers, smart, strong, and cute. In their kindergarten, she was obviously the star of the show.

Kagamine Rin, that was.

The girl was cute and sincere, always smiling, always willing to play a game, always having fun. Miku, on the other hand, was a gloomy, angry girl known for her habit of picking a fit whenever she got mad. It wasn't a surprise that Miku was an outcast in her early years.

The only one who hung out with her was Kagamine Len, Rin's twin brother. 

Not that you'd know it from looking at them. 

He was quiet where Rin was loud. Shy where she was outgoing, slow where she was fast, heck, even if they shared the same hair and eye colour, it was more like seeing a printing error in a picture that made a weed look as vibrant as a flower.

(Actually, she couldn't really be sure they had the same eye colour, since it always seemed like the kid was looking at his feet.)

The fact that they were related seemed like a cruel joke by God or something.

Len couldn't really be called a friend, Miku found. It was more like he was following after the only person who couldn't immediately abandon him for his sister. Actually, she did yell at him a fair amount of times for following after her like a baby duck, but all this did was make him try and walk beside her.

She hated him. He was weird and clingy and he cried too much. He never looked anyone in the eye. He talked too quietly for you to hear, so you had to keep telling him to speak up, but that could make him cry and clam up. 

One day, Len got weirdly into drawing clothes, but he absolutely refused to let her see any of it. She caught sight of a beautiful dress he drew once, and he immediately snatched the paper away from her, face bright red. Each page was carefully tucked into a sketchbook and that was somehow even more annoying. Not only did it make him even _more_  withdrawn and quiet and shy, he didn't even show it to the one person he could have something resembling a conversation with. Seriously, the heck!

Miku hated the idea of settling into a routine with this guy. She didn't like getting attached to people, and, well, she bristled whenever she felt too safe.

Her house was someplace that could go from safe to painful in an instant. School didn't seem much better to her, what with her inability to have a normal conversation with anyone.

Just a reminder that this was her thought process at about six years old.

And at about six years of age, Hatsune Miku made a decision.

She wouldn't be satisfied by just floating on by, hiding from the world like Len was. Whatever flaws she had, she'd erase from the world's eyes, until everyone who had thought she was just some gloomy loner, some useless child, would realize they were wrong about her. That she was worth something, whether you realized that or not.

So she learned and observed. For the years leading up to high school, Miku learned _exactly_  what kind of attitudes got the attention and reaction she needed. She started putting more thought into each part of her being, how this new Miku would dress each morning, walk into class, talk, smile, everything.

She worked herself to the bone for the sake of self-improvement. Working as a waitress slash delivery girl in her spare time, it wasn't a lie to say she survived classes because of those who helpfully gave her notes. Her funds went towards two things; beauty products and a safety net.

Miku wasn't as smart as her genius sister. She didn't have the strength her mother had or the explosive way with words her father did.

All she had was her looks, her wit, and her determination. Using that, she became the new queen of the school.

(It did help that Kagamine Rin had quietly became the star of the rugby team instead of being her rival or anything.)

Everyone who had been to elementary and middle school with her had assumed she had some sort of supernatural transformation or something. In response, she just smiled and said _'Well, everyone changes, right?'_

Their frequent response was often to point at Len.

He hadn't changed. Period.

Len still retreated from other people. But he continued to approach her, talk to her, and hide his drawings from her.

It really, really, really pissed her off. He wasn't even _trying_  to improve his situation. Did he _want_  people to look down on him? To keep thinking he was boring, dull, shy, hopeless, creepy, etc?

She was improving. Improving so fast that he couldn't keep up. If she kept going, there would be no room for him in her life. If things stayed the same, then things would never improve.

Miku couldn't do that, not when all her effort led to an opportunity she would never get again in her entire life.

So she cut him off.

When she walked in on him being mocked for his drawings, on his knees with his drawings spilled all over the floor, well.

She screamed at him. Told him to stop clinging to her, that everything about him pissed her off.

With a mocking sneer, she informed him that she wouldn't be taking care of his ass anymore. If he was so desperate to chase after his dreams, he could chase after her.

It was one of the few times she ever saw his eyes so clearly, bright blue and filled with tears.

That was the last she ever saw of him before she joined the company. 

Miku stopped going to school. She moved out of her house and into her own apartment, devoting every bit of herself to her new job. 

The same rules, she found, applied there too.

Never cry.

Tears would ruin her makeup.

Never show weakness.

The other models, even her boss, were testing her to see if she would crack under the pressure. If she did, she would be discarded of.

Never stop smiling.

It was what she was paid to do, after all.

Through her own efforts, Miku clawed her way to the top. From a stunning newcomer to an unexpected winner of the Alice competition, to beloved model, to contest veteran.

She smiled modestly through her victories, and showed a kind smile to her fans. Miku was even known as a graceful loser.

(Well, when she got home after a loss, she always shut herself in her room and devoured every article, every news piece on the competition to get herself in a spiteful determination to win.)

By the time she was in her late twenties, Hatsune Miku had accomplished her life goal five times over and then some. 

So what if she spent her days off at the gym or alone in her room? She didn't have that much time to entertain herself, plus she hated talking to her co-workers. Things had improved since she made her newbie debut, in that _'we can't outright get rid of you so let's smile and act polite'_ could be considered an improvement, but they both knew that the moment Miku messed up, they'd try and replace her. It wasn't like Miku really needed a personal life anyways.

Okay? Shut up. Her life was going great.

And then Kagamine Len walked back into her life.

Same damn company, too.

Was he _trying_  to piss her off?

If that were the case, the dumbass couldn't even spite right. He fucking got lost trying to find his interviewer's office, prompting two models, Mayu and Luka, to go check out if he was a creep or not.

By the way, Miss Meiko's office was on the eighth floor. The modelling studio was on the fourth. How in the _fuck_  did Len get that lost?!

In the end, Miku had to drag the dumbass to Miss Meiko's office, since on his own, he'd just stutter and flail in front of the two 'till they ate him alive. 

 _Obviously,_  she only did it because he was an eyesore in the hallway.

Though she couldn't predict that he'd instantly get hired, to make her dress for the Alice competition, nonetheless!

What the hell was Miss Meiko entrusting to a newbie, she demanded.

The reply was something along the lines of, "trust me, I know what I'm doing," which only made Miku stop trusting her boss completely.

No, seriously. He was a complete newbie. A nobody. And then they were throwing him at an international competition. In New York, nonetheless. Could he even speak English? He had terrible grades in English class in high school...

Not that Miku was _worried_  or anything. She just didn't want him to drag anyone down. 'Specially not her.

She worked hard to get where she was, and she was _not_  going to fail because some pansy bastard showed his ass after ten years of no contact!

'... _ah_ , _it's been ten years,'_ Miku realized, ten years since she taunted him and walked away.

And she supposed that he chased after her, all right.

Well, he'd be dead wrong if he thought a lucky, impulsive hire was enough to catch up to her. 

It'd be a pain if he got too cocky and fucked up, Miku told herself.

So, she decided, let's keep taunting him. 

Until his eyes fire up with p̶a̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ _hatred_ , make him keep chasing after her retreating back.

Without even a _'it's been a while'_ or a single mention of their past, Miku devoted herself to that plan.

During the plane ride to New York, she bluntly told him that he was bound to fuck up with his inexperience, so he better learn fast and not drag anyone down. As he learned from her what sort of theme the competition had this year, she added insults and barbs to her words. As he drew plans, she was there to remind him of how far left he had to go. 

It wasn't 'til he had finalized the dress design that she learned that he still remembered.

With a soft voice, so quiet she almost snapped at him to speak up, he mentioned an incident in their childhood.

What an idiot, she thought at the time.

Who cared if they used to be close enough to shop for accessories together? She was soft back then. So soft she couldn't even see how annoying he was.

What was he thinking, dragging that kind of talk to their workplace? When the other models would gladly pounce on any chance they had to dethrone her, why would he mark himself as important to her? The dumbass was inviting strife into his life for the sake of nostalgia.

So she bluntly told him she didn't care. Not 'bout him nor the past. 

There was a moment of silence, before Len lowered his head.

 _'You haven't changed at all,'_ he muttered under his breath.

The words were said quickly, in a way that was hard to ascribe any emotion to them.  

So, Miku chose to see them as an insult and insult him back.

Len quieted down quickly after that, which only made Miku get angry.

_'Speak up, idiot! Are you really such a goddamn coward that you're gonna let me walk all over you?! Do you even have a backbone, or are you just a useless heap of shit?!'_

He didn't say anything. He just kept his head down.

Dumbass.

Stupid, stupid dumbass!

Miku just got angrier and angrier the more she had to deal with him.

It pissed her off so much, one day, she just up and started crying.

Which idiot decided that humans should cry whenever they felt too much of any emotion, huh?! Did they even realize she was breaking her life rules because of their stupidity?!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

It was stupid! Stupid! There was no reason for Miku to cry when she saw the new magazine! None!

It was just, oh, the cover was announcing the debut of a new model, and the model was the splitting image of Kagamine Rin, ribbon and all! But Miku _knew_  for a _fact_  that Rin was back in Japan, competing in the Rugby championships! Which meant that Len had to be the one modelling! Which meant that, obviously, obviously....

— he did it! 

He snapped! Len finally made his move to catch up to her, and it was by _becoming a model?!_

_**For their rival company?!** _

That was almost as dumb as becoming her coworker to compete with her! What would he do if they asked him to do porn shots, huh?! Or if they found out he lied on his job application, huh?! Identity theft was a crime! Alas, an alias is unable to accomplish anything! Plus, did he even think about how Miss Meiko would react to him _playing both sides?!_

It, it was exactly the kind of stupid, reckless, moronic thing Kagamine Len would pull off! The dumbass had all the passion and drive he needed once he pulled his head out of his pessimistic, self-depreciating ass, but that head couldn't think worth shit! Why was she even surprised?! _Why_ _was_ _she_ _even_ _surprised!?_

She mocked him for years! She pushed him around and called him spineless and stomped on his dreams and took advantage of him and yet, yet she had the gall to be upset when he finally shot back! Even when she was pushing him to his breaking point, thinking that his anger would push him forward!

...why was she even surprised?

No, why was she upset?

Mayu tried to comfort her, sweet, meaningless words that really boiled down to _'why the hell are you upset? You know I'm the only one allowed to dethrone you.'_

Yeah. Thanks Mayu. That's nice, Mayu, shut the fuck up, Mayu.

Miku ignored the other model with a placid smile, glancing down at the magazine once again.

Yeah, did Len even _know_  how to smile? He looked awful. Totally forced. That sort of smile would never cut it in the model industry. Everyone knew that, once the buzz around the new model wore off, he'd be out of the business if he didn't wise up fast.

She knew that.

He had to know that too.

Was that how far he was willing to go to prove her wrong? To throw himself headfirst into a role he was completely, totally, definitely not suited for?

Ahahaha.

What an idiot, Miku thought, before an errant thought came to her.

_'How did it end up like this?'_

It was a normal question to ask, alright? Because people wouldn't normally expect a pair who were somewhat close in childhood to compete against each other, alright? It wasn't like Miku was wondering if she should have been nicer to him before, _alright?_

She was just curious. And looking back on her memories...

_"Wow, Kagamine!" a six year old Miku laughed as she pulled fistfuls of blonde hair into ponytails and clipping them together roughly. He was shaking as she moved. "You don't look too bad for a boy! You'd be really pretty if you weren't such a wimp!"_

_"Oi, Kagamine!" a ten year old Miku yelled, hands on her hips as she glared at the blonde. "You tryin' to advertise ta' bullies that you're an easy mark?! Quit sulking and keep your head up, coward! Look out for your own ass every once in a while! 'Else you'll never stop being harassed!"_

_"Urgh, Kagamine," a seventeen year old Miku groaned, her disgusted expression completely contrasting with her cutesy waitress outfit as she took the notebook out of his hands. "Did you really fucking wait for me after work just to hand me some notes? Gross. Go the fuck home before I kick your ass, moron. This café doesn't serve creepy, no-eyes spineless creeps."_

_"Uh, Kagamine...?" a twenty-eight year old Miku repeated, pretending she didn't recognize the name. "No, never heard of him. Now stop screwing around with the models, perv, the boss' office is upstairs. I'll show you there, but only 'cuz I feel so bad for you, paying so much for glasses and still being fucking blind."_

_'Chase me, fashionista, if you've got any hope in your heart that you can make it work! Otherwise, just give up like a coward!'_

...

.....

........

Okay, maybe it wasn't much of a surprise that he hated her.

It was bound to end up like this. That's what Miku told herself.

She could succeed through hard work and self-improvement, but nothing could fix that tongue of hers. Wherever she went, she'd make enemies. How was it a surprise that she managed to make a guy who'd known her for half her life hate her? She'd hate her too if she had to put up with herself!

Convincing herself that it was inevitable, the Alice competition dawned on them.

She never did get to see her dress in the end. 

* * *

Oh god, she was a fucking idiot. 

As she walked down the walkway with her head held high, Len rushed out before his turn in a beautiful dress, announcing to the world that, because of a cheating competitor, the two of their dresses had gotten mixed up.

A few things went through her mind as those words hit her.

It could have been someone aiming to discredit her and prevent a budding talent from rising up, she thought.

He got mixed up in something because of her again, she thought.

The dress he was wearing was beautiful, she realized.

He did it.

He... he had all the talent he needed to succeed in the fashion industry. He really did. 

Len didn't need someone to motivate him anymore, she realized.

They could go their separate ways, with him hating her forever now.

Before she knew it, she was on the floor, tears dropping down her face. And yet, she couldn't look away from his radiance.

Len just smiled, offering her a hankerchief.

It was almost mocking, the way he said those reassuring words to her. Miku couldn't even find the heart to retort.

Len's eyes, they almost seemed to shine as he smiled.

 _"Do you still not remember me?"_ he asked, removing his wig before all the fashion-minded eyes in New York. _"After you told me to chase after you?"_

Her lips unconsciously formed his name.

 _"Yeah, that's right. Kagamine Len,"_ he replied, a sort of smug satisfaction entering his eyes. _"You remember me after all."_

It was then that some security guards helped Miku stand and escorted her backstage.

With the sound of voices on microphones onstage and people rushing around in her ear, Miku just couldn't take it anymore. 

Angry and humiliated, she fled the establishment entirely, taking a cab back to the company hotel. 

For an entire day, she completely refused all contact with the outside world, staying in her hotel room from dawn to dusk, surviving off of room service and crappy TV dramas.

Normally, when she lost, she'd go and fuel herself with rage by absorbing all the info she could on the competition. Analysing the difference between her and the winner, learning how to improve, until she was sure she could win, but...

It wasn't the idea that she lost that bothered her.

Ah.

Ah, that was it, wasn't it?

Even though she had tried so hard to push him away, she was scared that he might actually hate her this time?

....pathetic.

Thinking that of herself, Miku heard a knock on the door, declaring that her food had arrived.

Ah, yeah, she had ordered breakfast for herself earlier, as she was ignoring her phone calls and messages.

Wiping her face, she opened the door just a bit to grab her food, when—

-she was grabbed instead?!

 _"We got her!"_ she heard Luka scream, right before Miku's hands were tied behind her back.

Miku started to kick, when a gag was forced into her mouth.

With wide, angry eyes, she glared at... her boss?!

 _"Sorry, Miku-chan, but this is for your own good!"_ Miss Meiko exclaimed, before tossing Miku on a cart.

Miku had about three thoughts about that situation.

  1. She deserved a payraise for this nonsense.
  2. She absolutely did not deserve to be treated like a sack of flour.
  3. Wasn't this the cart the staff used for cleaning supplies?



Nevertheless, Miku was carted off to a conference room, with a TV already set up.

She had absolutely no idea what was happening, but she was fairly certain this was all illegal.

 _"Luka,"_ Miss Meiko said, transferring Miku from the cart to a chair.

Luka nodded, grabbing the TV remote immediately.

Miku's eyes widened as the black screen came to life, displaying the venue of the Alice competition.

Len was being interviewed by a reporter, a nervous expression on his face as he looked from camera to interviewer.

What the fuck? Why the hell was he so nervous?! He just made a declaration to dozens of people and cameras, all while wearing a dress and even taunting her! 

 _'What do you hope will happen now, Mr. Kagamine?'_ the interviewer asked, her words being translated by an interpreter for him.

_'I, I mean, it's not fair if someone interfered, right? This dress, I made it for Miku, so it's not right if she lost, and I won wearing this...'_

Oi, Miku thought. Don't take the good-natured sweetheart act _that_  far! Don't be so soft! Say it's a shame and that you hope next time, things like this won't happen! Accept your victory with a winning smile!

(Miku did not notice that he just casually used her first name, no honourifics, on live TV.)

The interpreter said something to the interviewer, who then asked, _'that's an affectionate way of calling her. Do you have a special relationship?'_

Len's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he began stammering, waving his hands around as he tried to formulate a response.

Hey. _Hey._  What the hell do you think you're doing?! Why are you still so fucking spineless?! Miku mentally screamed, just as Len cleared his throat.

 _'Ah, sorry. I got startled by the question,'_ Len admitted, chuckling nervously. _'But then, I realized, if she were watching this, she'd yell at me to 'grow a goddamn spine already, you fucking wimp,' like she always does, so I'll do my best to answer.'_

Miku's mental reaction was a simple _'well, sorry for being so predictable!'_

And then Len pulled off a move that was less a bombshell and more planetary annihilation, all with a shy smile.

_'We've been friends since we were kids. She's always been encouraging me in her own way, telling me to stand up tall and chase my dreams. I'm only here because she pushed me forward so much, you know?'_

The inside of Miku's head was just a neverending series of question marks at this point. Did... did he think they used to be friends or something? When she bullied the fuck out of him?

 _'I want to be a man she acknowledges. I want to be the one who makes the clothes she wears down the runway, b-because, I—'_ Len cut himself off, hurriedly slapping a hand over his mouth as he flushed bright red.

Miku sighed in her thoughts, exasperated and baffled that Len had managed to pull off the exact tone and expression needed to cause the mother of all misunderstandings, all because he was nervous on camera. It'd be such a huge mess to clean up later, so she'd help him clear it up. Only because he'd fuck it up on his own, though—

 _'Because...?'_ the newscaster repeated, and Miku could almost see the predatory smile on her face in the face of such a juicy scoop. Geez, aggressive, pushy girls were the type Len was worst with, so he would probably make everything worse by just stuttering until he ran off—

 _'I really don't like the idea of Miku learning of my feelings from a TV broadcast before hearing it from my mouth, so can we stop here?'_ Len asked, eyes suddenly flat and voice blunt as hell. _'You can already guess how I feel and get it right. Not that she can.'_

The newscaster was just as baffled by his sudden attitude change as Miku was, judging by the confused tone she used as she asked what was going on with him.

_'Being around Miku makes me so happy I have to try and keep my face completely blank whenever I'm with her, and conversations involving her tend to make me stutter a lot.'_

Eh.

Was... wasn't this sounding suspiciously like a love confession?

...Len?

_Len?_

_'Ah, hold on, Rin's calling,'_ Luka said suddenly, pulling out a phone. _'Hold on, hold on, I'm putting it on speaker, 'kay? Calm down a bit, babe.'_

And then Luka let Miku hear the sound of Kagamine Rin's voice. She didn't know they were friends.

(Actually, in three days, Miku would learn that they were very much not-friends. Absolutely not-friends.)

 _'EX- **CUSE**  ME?!' _Kagamine Rin screamed so loud, Miss Meiko covered her years. _'I did not watch you two PUSSY FOOT around your feelings for each other just to back out right before the fucking finale!'_

 _'What,'_ was Miku's eloquent reaction.

 _'Talk to my brother, before I swim over there and throw you at each other! I have suffered your goddamn TOTAL OBLIVIOUSNESS to the SLIGHTEST HINT OF ROMANTIC INTEREST for_ **FAR. TOO. LONG.**'

Miku did her best to process this input. She really, really did.

She got as far as _'Len's sister is implying I'm oblivious to romantic feelings'_  before her brain exploded, setting a new record of three seconds of pause between her last conscious thought and her ensuing stupid actions.

_'Why the hell would that nerd's love life have anything to do with me? I'm not gonna stick my neck in his business, so who gives a damn if I don't react to stuff like that?'_

_'Oh god, she's as dumb as you said,'_ Luka whispered in fear.

Miss Meiko just looked stunned.

And Rin?

Rin _fucking screamed._

_' **YOU** **MOOORROONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! LEN! IS! IN! LOVE! WITH! YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!'**_

Miku froze.

Her mental facilities were not equipped to deal with things she thought were impossible.

Slipping out of the chair, Miku lost consciousness right before she smashed facefirst into the floor.

* * *

Miku woke up to the same ceiling she had grown accustomed to during the trip to New York, that of the hotel room she was staying in.

Of course, the rooms tended to have the same ceilings, which would explain the presence of something that would definitely not be in her room.

Yeah.

She woke up with Len's face looming over her, eyes filled with worry. And possibly fear.

Her head seemed to be resting on his lap, the rest of her body just on the bed or something? Which just brought up the question of why?

So she glared at him as she slowly said, "Kagamine."

"Y-yes?" he replied, and she just kinda forgot all about the important matters of _'why am I in a room with my head on your lap'_  and focused on that.

"Stop stuttering. Look people in the eyes when you talk. And don't fidget, you're moving the bed," she ordered as she sat up and next to him on the bed.

Looking at it, it was very obviously not her room. It was too clean and organized. Which meant...

"Kagamine. Where are we?"

"..."

"Kagamine?"

"...my room."

Normally, this would be the sort of information that would make Miku explode into a rage and yell at him not to be alone with weird women in his room unless he wanted scandals to emerge, but Miku just woke up.

So she just asked, "why are we in your room?"

"Miss Meiko and Miss Luka said you fainted and that I should look after you," he said softly. "They put you on my lap, and I didn't want to move..."

Miku stared at him. He tensed under her gaze.

"You're not stuttering anymore," she noted.

"I mean, I've been spending the past half hour mentally rehearsing how to grovel for my life as you attempt to murder me for touching you, so compared to that, this conversation is okay," Len replied.

"Ah. That's right," Miku said as she nodded. "There's no way Rin could be right, because you're terrified of me... she always was a goddamn idiot..."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong."

"How sure can a guy like you be?" Miku asked with doubtful eyes.

"About ninety percent," Len retorted immediately.

"She said you fucking were in love with me. How could that be right?" Miku rolled her eyes. "You really ought to learn not to make these promises too early, kid, 'else you'll get—"

"...crap."

"!?"

As Miku recoiled in shock and terror from the unexpected cursing, Len turned red.

"I-I wanted to tell you myself! Why is she saying stuff like that?! I-"

"Hold... hold on, this is a joke, right? Because, you have to hate me, after everything I did, right?" Miku asked, completely, totally lost.

"What? What do you mean, everything you did?"

"I mean, you'd normally hate someone after they forcefully dress you up and make fun of you, right?"

"Huh? But it's not like I hate girls' clothes, and all you really said was that I was pretty?" Len was just as confused as Miku was at this point. "It actually made me pretty happy when you complimented me."

"What?!" Miku interjected. "How do you take that as a compliment?! When I called you a coward and a wimp, too!"

"But, you were always trying to get me to be more brave?" Len countered. "Whenever I got bullied, you'd tell me to keep my head up and be more confident to keep them away, because you couldn't stop them every time."

"Urgh, then, how about the times you just tried hard to make sure I got the notes for classes when I missed out, and then I totally bitched out on you and yelled at you?"

"You mean the one time I went to your job to pass you the notes?" Len asked. "Wasn't that the time you were really worried I spent too much time waiting outside for you, so you gave me your coat so I wouldn't catch a cold?"

"I-I pretended to forget you when you were applying for the job!" Miku shrieked desperately. "I didn't want to admit I knew you!"

"Because it would be a bad idea to tell the two people cornering me and calling me a weird stalker pervert that you knew me?" Len offered uncertainly. "I mean, I _was_  there to visit you, but then you just kind of used your connections to get me a job interview, and then I accidentally got the job."

"...you. What?"

"I got the job by accident. Both of my jobs," Len said.

"No, I mean..." Miku trailed off, looking away as she toyed with her pigtails. "Why would you want to see me? The last thing I ever said to you was just..."

"Telling me to get the hell off the ground and start making something out of myself," Len filled in the blank with the best possible interpretation of her motives.

Miku fell silent.

"Dammit, Kagamine, why the hell do you think I'm so nice!? The way I treat you is anything but nice! Are you a masochist!? Don't tell me you'd let anyone just walk all over you like this!"

"Eh, but someone who isn't nice wouldn't get worried and keep trying to give me advice like this?" Len replied.

"What happened to the Len that was always trembling and crying and scared of me?! Normally you'd think that I'm the huge bitch that's bullying him, so why are you suddenly turning me into an angel?!"

"But I was just nervous around the girl I like," Len said plainly. "I'm not trying to exaggerate your good traits or anything. If anything, you're the one trying to downplay your good side."

Letting out a groan, Miku glared at him.

"Do you really have your head screwed on right?! What's there to like about a foul-tempered girl who secretly swears like a sailor under her model smile?!"

Len's answer was a chain combo.

"How hardworking she is, how nice she is, how dedicated she is to her goals, how cute she is when she's really worried but doesn't want to admit it so she acts like it's not a big deal—"

"G-gyah! That, that's enough!" Miku screamed, blushing. "I get it! I get it! It's, it's enough."

"I still have more if you don't believe me."

"No, no, it's fine! I believe you! Stop talking!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm kind of in the mindset where I can do anything, but the moment I stop, I'll die instantly, so I think the moment I stop talking, I might do something stupid."

"You're already plenty stupid, you know?! You're confessing to a girl like me!" Miku exclaimed.

"You say that, but I don't really know why I wouldn't like you," Len replied.

"I won't stop insulting you, even if I don't mean to!"

"I got used to it."

"I, I'm really bad at talking, so you better not expect too much from me!"

"I'm not much better, so wouldn't we be great together?"

"Gu— I won't hold your hand or anything! That's weird as hell, okay!?"

"Yeah, I get it."

"You...! I won't wear dresses made by anyone but the best, got it!" Miku declared. "If you want me to be your model so bad, then prove you're more than a one-shot wonder!"

"Okay," Len answered with a smile.

Miku blushed at the sight.

"Then... Then, if you want me to be your girlfriend so badly, I _guess_  I can."

"Oh...! You, wow, I'm so happy!" Len's smile grew brighter and brighter, prompting Miku to snap at him.

"Quit giving me that annoying smile! Or I'll wipe it off your face, got it?!"

Len's answer?

Pouring gasoline on the fire.

"Sure, but only if you do it with your lips, okay?"

"You cocky little bastard—!!"

"Sorry, _sorry_ —!"

The very next day, they called in for a sick day for the first time in both their careers.

(Len's circle, that weird hat group, all warned him about the breeding habits of wild rabbits for some reason. Miku would very much like to have a word with them.)


End file.
